Steel/steel rod ends consist of a rod end housing and a steel/steel radial spherical plain bearing from the standard assortment, where the outer ring is secured in the housing. These rod ends are available with:

Steel/bronze rod ends are available with a female (fig. 6) or male (fig. 7) thread. They consist of a rod end housing and a steel/bronze spherical plain bearing (table 4). These bearings have an inner ring made of steel and an outer ring made of bronze. The bearing is held in position by staking the housing on both sides of the outer ring. These rod ends are available with a male or female thread.

Relubrication facilities
SKF rod ends requiring maintenance are provided with a grease fitting or a lubrication hole in the rod end housing. Relubrication via the pin is also possible. Exceptions are steel/steel rod ends in the SA .. E and SI .. E series and a few smaller rod ends as indicated in the product tables. The type and design of relubrication facilities in the rod end housing are listed in table 5.

SKF manufactures maintenance-free rod ends with three different sliding contact surface combinations in different series (table 1).

Rod ends with either a steel/PTFE sintered bronze (fig. 1 and fig. 2) or steel/PTFE fabric (fig. 3 and fig. 4) sliding contact surface combination contain a bearing from the standard assortment. The outer ring is staked in place in the housing.

Rod ends with a steel/PTFE FRP sliding contact surface combination (fig. 5 and fig. 6) consist of a rod end housing and a spherical plain bearing inner ring. Between the housing and the inner ring, a sliding layer of fibre reinforced polymer, containing PTFE, is moulded to the housing.